The Mines of Bedawal
Since my Day 1 at BHS, I was persistent on visiting Pindwara, where the organisation worked to treat and rehabilitate stone carving workers who were suffering from Silicosis. However, as I was posted in a different area (Salumber), the schedules didn’t match. So I did not get the opportunity and was disappointed.
I felt upset and angry with myself. Despite engaging with the people of Bedawal during community meetings and at the clinic, I was ignorant about what the women do for a living in that locality. I was so focused on visiting an area almost 200km from my posted area that I missed something significant: women's lives at these mines.
I only had two more weeks at BHS, but I was determined to visit these mines. One day after a community meeting, I asked Manju Didi, the Senior Health worker, can we visit the mines. After some contemplation, she agreed—our mode of transportation, a scooter. A previous male health worker overheard our plan, was a bit surprised and worried for us, and warned us about the ways to the mines as the roads were “kaccha”. Having navigated a few kachha roads of Ghated, I was clearly overconfident regarding my riding skills and took up the challenge. Therefore, Mrinalini, Manju Didi and I set out on our expedition to visit the mines.
Oh boy, will I remember this ride. The initial 2 km was a beautiful tarred, aka pakka road, with beautiful turns, navigating the hilly terrain of Bedawal, lined by the most beautiful trees. The following 4 km were indeed a nightmare. There were no roads; it was just following the tire tracks of the previous two-wheelers which had passed through that area. Most of the way, Mrinalini and Manju didi had to walk as the way was too rocky and uneven. We had to cross streams and ride up hills. The diversity in landscape just in this 4 km surprised me. At one point on our way back, three of us were on the scooter, and we came in front of a big banyan tree. I asked, “Raasta Kahan hai?” (where is the way ?) and we just started laughing hysterically.
Two-wheelers, mainly bikes, are the primary mode of transport here, as no other vehicle can navigate this terrain, and it’s affordable, which can be purchased via loans issued by the many micro-financing companies operating in that area. Bedawal is notorious for home delivery compared to the other two regions where BHS works. When I travelled through these ways, I realised home delivery, which was unacceptable for me till that point, seemed like a much safer option than for a fully pregnant woman to go through these ways on a bike to reach the hospital.
After the most adventurous and never-ending ride, we finally reached the mines. I was speechless. I knew I was only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Heaps and heaps of blinding white powder, Soapstone, traces of which were also seen on the way. In their colourful lehenga, women, mostly girls of the age group 13-40, carrying heavy loads on their heads from the carrier, dotted this extra-terrestrial-like set-up. We soon walked to see where the rocks were coming from and saw a bottomless pit, a deep cave, to be precise 600ft deep, from where soap stones were mined. Soapstone, aka Steatite, is used in many industries, from making countertops and floors to soap and talcum powder. Soon, we were greeted by the manager, the only man there and as soon as he appeared, all the women put their dupattas over their faces ( ghunghat ) and resumed their work.I knew there were so many layers of oppression to what I was witnessing.
The manager explained that all the workers were women; a few go to the bottom of the cave via a ladder, then mine the rocks and put them in the carrier, which is brought up by a pulley and loaded onto the trucks. The ladder they used to descend and ascend was just a plain steel ladder. No safety harness, no proper lighting, nothing. A much safer mechanism delivered the rocks ! Many of the girls came to greet us as they were familiar with Manju didi, and on speaking with them, we realised they earn Rs 200/ day, an average of Rs 5000/ month. Their day starts at 4 am when it is still dark outside, as they all have to walk 1-1.5 hours from their homes to reach the mines. The way we navigated with the scooter and felt intimated was how these young girls had to walk back and forth every day. They usually reach back home at 8pm. Manju didi told us as these ways are isolated, when the women go and come back from work, they get raped and often have to do MTP.
When I asked them how they felt about working here, which is a foolish question to begin with, all they had were shy giggles. Casualties are very common here, said a 40-year bhaiji, who had been working there for over 15 years. About 20-30 people lose their lives; their families receive a compensation of 9 lakhs. Some have breathing difficulties due to prolonged exposure to the fine soapstone dust.
I know many of the young girls need to go to school. But how can I incentivise or make that attractive for them cause the quality of education at government schools there is seriously compromised, and private schools are unthinkable. Can I assure them a well-paying job after 12 years when they are done with school? They might be aware of the health problems arising from working at the mines in the next 10 years, but what about today? They need money for today’s meal; they need money today to feed their family. They do not have the privilege of time, the time to invest in their education.
Moreover, they are caught in a vicious cycle. Their parents might have started working at their age in the mines or as migrant labourers elsewhere; by the time they are 35-40years, their physical health deteriorates so badly having contracted Silicosis, Tuberculosis or from doing extremely physically intensive work for such a long time, topped off with undernutrition, that they would want to stop, and their child enters the loop.
We returned safely. That night, I went into a spiral, reading more about the mining activities in the Aravali Ranges, one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, to which the hills of Bedawal belonged. Many articles and videos described the many legal and illegal mining activities happening there, with locals testifying that areas with hills were now no more due to the extensive mining. This was all new information to me. I wondered, if Mt. Everest had favourable climatic conditions, would we have mined there also?
I felt numb. I had a lot of questions but no answers. As I write this blog, almost a month after this visit, I’m enveloped by that sensation again. I still have no answers.
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